WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy is starting to enlist individuals who didn’t graduate from high school or get a GED, marking the second time in about a year that the service has opened the door to lower-performing recruits as it struggles to meet enlistment goals.

  • @taanegl
    link
    794 months ago

    IN THE NAVY~!

    You can sail the seven seas~

    IN THE NAVY~!

    You don’t need a G.E.D.~

  • Neato
    link
    fedilink
    English
    714 months ago

    It’s because low level enlisted is paid like shit.

    And now they are recruiting from those w/o HS or GED. The people already struggling to find employement.

    Poverty recruitment! Yay…

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      394 months ago

      Pay wasn’t my son’s concern. His concern in 2016 was that Trump would be his commander in chief.

      • @Seleni
        link
        234 months ago

        My cousin left the navy for that exact reason. Of course, she actually had to work with Trump, so I imagine that didn’t help.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    444 months ago

    Gosh, maybe no one wants to support the military industrial complex, since we aren’t getting the American dream anymore.

  • @voxelastronaut
    link
    234 months ago

    Their recruitment ads are getting laughably desperate, too–all crazy CGI and sci-fi fantasies aimed at gullible COD nerds. They almost got me (poor kid straight out of high school, I was vulnerable) and haven’t stopped chasing me ever since. It’s been like 8 years and I still get recruitment material targeted at me, somehow–one of them even texted me like a year or two ago.

    Maybe if they paid better, took better care of veterans, and weren’t part of a bloodthirsty genocide machine slaughtering innocent people, they wouldn’t be having so much trouble.

  • @ours
    link
    English
    224 months ago

    I guess it’s going to take more than a Top Gun sequel.

  • @stufkes
    link
    194 months ago

    This seems the right place to post this lecture on “Macnamaras morons”. Young men with intellectual disabilities that were drafted to fight in Vietnam. Absolutely disgusting policy and heartbreaking for the families and the drafted men.

    https://youtu.be/_J2VwFDV4-g?si=qTtvTDDUgBIgFmVy

    • @Everythingispenguins
      link
      44 months ago

      Plus a disaster for the army. It reduced its effective force because most of the men drafted with disabilities required a full time buddy to navigate most simple tasks. Literally it failed in every way possible.

      • @stufkes
        link
        14 months ago

        Yes, this is covered in the talk as well. In one example, an officer is killed by a macnamara man because he couldn’t tell him apart from the enemy, and another where a soldier couldn’t grasp the concept of throwing a grenade in a parabola over an obstacle rather than straight ahead.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      -64 months ago

      Sure, but a grade 12 or not is more situational than anything indicating intelligence. Yeah it’s mostly ubiquitous now, but that doesn’t change it’s no real indication.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    18
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    You want a high number of quality employees? Stop reducing the standards and start increasing pay.

    Full fucking stop.

    • @robocallOP
      link
      English
      184 months ago

      Also, stop making Americans kill innocent civilians in poor countries.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      84 months ago

      People are a lot more likely to sign up if there’s no risk of actual fighting happening. With Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Palestine and potentially China/Taiwan soon I’m not surprised people are reluctant to join.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    154 months ago

    Joining the military seems much less attractive for people when your country have been fighting in foreign countries for 16 of the last 18 years of your life… who knew?

    • @CheeseNoodle
      link
      English
      134 months ago

      And if the country in question didn’t openly shit on veterans (From a government policy standpoint not the actual populace).

  • @Ross_audio
    link
    154 months ago

    Have they tried subliminal, liminal, and superluminal recruitment?

  • sylver_dragon
    link
    English
    114 months ago

    Standards Aweigh, my boys, Standards Aweigh!

  • @Rakonat
    link
    English
    74 months ago

    Surely this will not cause reliability and readiness issues over the next decade.

  • @Olhonestjim
    link
    34 months ago

    Oh for sure, that what the Navy needed when I was in. More shitbags.